Partners

• All government departments
• Tusla
• Health Service Executive
• Garda Síochána

Description

The Children First Interdepartmental Implementation Group (CFIDIG), which includes members from all government departments, Tusla, the Health Service Executive and the Garda Síochána, is an important initiative in the area of children’s rights and protections.

Established by the Children First Act of 2015, the group has a substantial workload and acts as a key facilitator of collaboration across a wide range of areas. It is required to continuously review the implementation of Children First legislation and guidance across the public sector and to report to the Minister annually. The Children First Act requires every department to prepare a sectoral implementation plan.

While departments and agencies are responsible for child protection issues arising in their own sphere of responsibility, the CFIDIG provides a forum in which child safeguarding issues with cross-departmental relevance can be raised as required. The group publishes a detailed annual report of its workload and achievements and those of member departments.

The Disability Advisory Committee, established by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission under its statutory powers, directly advises the commission on thefulfilmentof its independent monitoring role, as set out underArticle 33.3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Appointments to the Disability Advisory Committee are for a three-year term and are based on an open competitive process that is managed independently by the Public Appointments Service. The committee was established in 2019 and is in its second term at the time of writing.